People ask me who I favor in the race for the Republican Party nomination for President. I wish they would ask me who I favor in the Democratic Party race—Hillary. As for the Republican race, each candidate has his [or her] strong and weak points.
I am a lot more choosey than I was when I was younger. When I was ten I was convinced that Governor Adlai Stevenson was the perfect candidate. When I was fourteen I still believed in Governor Stevenson, but added Senator Estes Kefauver to my list of great candidates for President. Governor Stevenson lost twice. When I was eighteen I thought Senator John F Kennedy was the perfect candidate—little did I know. When I was twenty-two I voted for my then girlfriend's Father. I didn't like either of the Party offerings. When I was twenty-six I was 100% for the Happy Warrior, then Vice President Hubert H Humphrey.
Then there was a long drought, until 1988. By then I was forty-six, and chastened about politicians. But, I did like Vice President George H W Bush. He seemed ideal. Since then it has been the lesser of two or more evils. And so it is today.
None of this is to say all our Presidents have been dreadful. President Reagan was great. President Clinton, working with Congress, gave us welfare reform and a balanced budget. President George W Bush led us through our recovery and reaction to 9/11 and kept us pretty much on track. I did think the Iraq war was a mistake, but we can't know what might have transpired if we had not gone on. Still few of the Candidates jump out at me as great. I might add Senator Scoop Jackson in 1972, but he was from the wrong wing of his Party.
I am sure it is a forlorne hope, but my hope is for a brokered convention, one in which there is no one with enough delegates to win on the first ballot and a Dark Horse rides in and takes the nomination and the Vice Presidential slot is not filled by someone who is picked by the Party's Presidential Candidate or the Party Leadership, or both, but by the delegates. Senator Marco Rubio would be fine. I realize Univision, the Spanish Language TV Station, doesn't like him, but I don't think that will be a problem. Other possibilities include Governor Nikki Haley and Governor Bobby Jindal.
Regards — Cliff
4 comments:
Thank you for your Blog, the more you write the more I like!!! I was in favor of a Hillary presidency long before I even know who Obama was. I'm still hoping for a 2016 Hillary victory.
Hell, I'd boot Biden off the 2012 ticket this second, if Hillary was game.
As for the GOPer, Romney is the lesser evil from the gaggle.
On that note, I have to give America's Republicans credit for committing to the "Not Mitt" option. Clearly, he is the biggest phony out there and they know it. By refusing to glom on to the fraud, they validate the integrity of their party.
Now, if they could just shake the zeal for whackadoo; flat earther fundamentalists and no gov't isolationists.
Maybe, by 2020? Too soon?
This election will sound the death knell on the GOP as it has been and known for decades. If last night's NH debates are any sort of symptom, it is one of quasi-polite listlessness. A bowl of soggy corn flakes has more effervescence than this bunch of lackluster lackey's.
I am a conservative...very.....and a registered Republican....but voting the ticket this year requires the wearing of a nose clip and rose colored glasses.
What is needed....desperately....is someone with a genuine fire in the belly....someone who is a bold and genuine alternative to what is living in the WH today.....someone who can lead America out of the fundamental swamp we have drifted into. The issues are not jobs, or gay marriage, or finance, or even defense. The issues are about changing the American zeitgeist...remembering our heritage...what has made us great.....and translating those same attributes to the current national and international realities.
Anything...anyone....less....is simply...sadly....just a degree of difference with the status quo.
The biggest problem with describing Obama in the most extreme terms is that the solution to Obama is, itself, extreme. Hence, minus Romney and Huntsman, the lineup we see.
How GOPers can't fathom that the solution to Obama is a Dole,Kemp,Hagel,Powell, ect. type Republican is beyond me.
I think a McCain/Romney '08 ticket would have been much tougher to beat. Unfortunately, the GOP's energy comes from an ideology easily described as "the American Taliban." Good luck with that, yo.
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